My old Ethics prof once told the class "Whoever said money can't buy happiness needs to give it to me so I can show them!". He then presented a study done by researchers looking to quantify happiness and they concluded the "cost of happiness" to be 10 million USD. That is supposed to be the amount needed to buy whatever you desire...a nice home, cars, etc., and enough to live off without ever worrying about money again. Anything beyond that is considered excessive.
This was many years ago, but the point I would like to discuss here is can you buy happiness, or is it really just comfort?
We've all seen the stats of how much the 1% make, but are they any happier than the other 99%? Obviously, there will be many people who will state that family makes you happy, and love, but in the absence of the non-tangible feels, could you just buy your way to a happy life?
I personally think that there should be a cap on anyone making over 10 mil and the rest should be filtered back to help those in need, but that's not a popular opinion in our capitalist society. The excessive riches of just Elon Musk alone could solve hunger in many places. More food, less yachts.
Perhaps we would need to (re)define happiness first before attempting to quantify it? UGH.
This was many years ago, but the point I would like to discuss here is can you buy happiness, or is it really just comfort?
We've all seen the stats of how much the 1% make, but are they any happier than the other 99%? Obviously, there will be many people who will state that family makes you happy, and love, but in the absence of the non-tangible feels, could you just buy your way to a happy life?
I personally think that there should be a cap on anyone making over 10 mil and the rest should be filtered back to help those in need, but that's not a popular opinion in our capitalist society. The excessive riches of just Elon Musk alone could solve hunger in many places. More food, less yachts.
Perhaps we would need to (re)define happiness first before attempting to quantify it? UGH.
It will all be over soon...
